Observed Signal · Jul 23, 2026 · Earnings Report · Source: VideoWeek · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Reach begins monetising content in AI era
Reach, one of the UK’s largest online news publishers, reported a 9% decline in group revenues year‑on‑year for H1 2026 and an 11% drop in digital revenues, while outlining a strategy to reduce reliance on referral traffic. CEO Piers North said the business is prioritising original content, paid subscriptions, quality video, social engagement, off‑platform distribution and AI licensing. Reach noted platform page views fell 40% YoY while social video views rose 55% and off‑platform revenues grew over 90%. The publisher is rolling out a new publishing platform called Launchpad to centralise in‑house AI tools and in March signed a usage‑based content licensing deal with Amazon AWS to allow its content to be used in AWS AI products.
This is an earnings update from a major publisher describing material revenue declines, rapid shifts in audience behaviour (search traffic and off‑platform video), and early moves into AI content licensing—signals that affect publisher monetisation, programmatic supply and content licensing models across the ad ecosystem.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Publisher ad alliance Ozone reported ad supply in the UK and US fell by 40% year‑on‑year in Q2.
- Reach reported group revenues declined by 9% year‑on‑year in H1 2026, with digital revenues down 11%.
- Reach said platform page views declined 40% year‑on‑year while social video views rose 55%.
- Reach stated off‑platform revenues (eg. views on YouTube and Facebook) have grown over 90%.
- In March 2026 Reach signed a deal with Amazon AWS to allow its content to be used in AWS AI products, with compensation based on usage.
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mapped“Last week, data from publisher ad alliance Ozone revealed that ad supply in the UK and US fell by 40 percent YoY in Q2, as the rise of AI ov...”
“Reach CEO Piers North said the business was moving “further away from a reliance on referral traffic”, and is working on the assumption that...”
“The CEO noted that the off‑platform (such as views on YouTube and Facebook) and video sides of the business are increasingly important sourc...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Reach Faces Traffic Plunge as Google Discover Shifts Focus
UK publisher Reach said in its full-year results that Google referrals fell sharply in the second half of the year, driven primarily by declines in Google Discover rather than Search. Reach reported Google traffic down 46% in H2, contributing to an 8% year-on-year drop in on-platform page views. CEO Piers North said Discover changes — including Google pushing more video, user-generated and local content — have reduced visibility for Reach’s written articles. Reach is expanding video production (about 300+ video stories per day and ~110 new specialist video roles) and growing off-platform audiences: social referrals rose 21% in H2 and now make up 27% of Reach’s traffic. CFO Darren Fisher said social monetisation has improved as platforms reward engaging content.
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The Reuters Institute’s annual trends report warns existential pressures for news publishers, including AI-driven traffic declines, eroding trust, and misinformation. Surveying 280 media leaders worldwide, only 38% are confident about journalism in 2026 (down from 60% in 2022), while 53% are confident in their own business prospects. To counter AI-impacted reach, publishers are reshaping content, revenue, and external partnerships. Chartbeat data show Google Search referrals down 33% year-over-year in November, with publishers projecting a 40% traffic drop from search over the next three years; Facebook and X referrals also declined (43% and 46%). Referrals to AI tools remain tiny (ChatGPT ~0.02%). In response, 91% plan more original investigations, 79% more video, and 71% more audio. About 76% say journalists should act more like creators; 50% will partner with creators for distribution, and 31% plan to hire creators to reach younger audiences.
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